Grimm Mother Snippets
by QAI521
Summary: Nilbog may be gone, but the story is far from over. Join Annette as she tries to deal living with her new powers and with a pre-teen parahuman. (snippet collection)
1. Aunt Annette

**I've been meaning to post this here on , but it keeps slipping my mind. In any case, this is a continuation of _Grimm Mother_ in snippet form. **

**In which Riley loses an uncle and gains an aunt.**

 **Enjoy!**

Aunt Annette

"Don't worry, your Uncle Jack is here," Jack Slash said with a wide grin. The young girl's heartbroken and teary eyed look had given way to a tired and exhausted expression. He had run her around in circles for hours as she tried to save his family. He had to admit, being able to kill the same person over and over again was amusing. He wondered if this was why Grey Boy had been so fond of throwing people into time loops. The expression of horror as they died again and again certainly had its appeal.

The others laughed and smirked at the blonde's misfortune, but none of them really understood. They didn't see what he saw. She would be his masterpiece, his ultimate creation. He would mold her into the greatest murderer in the world. A monster that would dwarf any other.

Short of himself, of course.

He had to admit that he was just as surprised as the girl when she triggered. Oh, people had triggered during his visits before, but they were always boring, always trying to smash their way out of the situation. But dear Riley? She was a Tinker.

And not just any Tinker, but one that could resurrect dead people with household appliances. He could only begin to imagine the horrors that she would be able to inflict once she got a proper lab up and running. It would be a little difficult since they had to move around so much, especially since that Cadmus started coming after them. But she was valuable enough to deal with the cost. How much more would they be able to kill and murder with a medic to heal them up?

No more squatting in hospitals and coercing doctors to perform surgery. Nice Guy had made it easy to convince them, but it was still irritating to have to put his body into the hands of a few normals. Of course, they would kill them all after, but it was the principle of the thing! But now?

If she was half as good healing people as she was resurrecting them, then that would cut down on the time they had to spend to ground. That was less time hiding and more time murdering people.

"Ready to be a good girl?" Jack asked with what he was sure was an unhinged grin. His smile only stretched out even wider as Riley looked up at him with those big broken eyes of hers. Jack had to admit that he had outdone himself on this one. Killing children was one thing, but turning them into killer's themselves? That was horror gold. It was stuff like this that cemented the Nine's reputation as the boogeyman of the cape community.

Riley's eyes flicked to the side, focusing on something behind him.

Jack turned around to see what she was looking at that could possibly be more captivating than him when he came face to face with the snout of one of Cadmus' Fenrir. Jack didn't even have time to shout an expletive as he practically threw himself backwards to escape the creature. He was able to avoid the bone crushing jaws as they snapped around air, but he wasn't quite able to get out of the way of the beast's claws.

"AUG!" the psychopath screamed as the dark furred creature's claws cleaved across his face. Blood splashed into his eyes and mouth as he fell back on the floor hissing in pain. Jack sputtered as the metallic tasting fluids drenched his taste buds and stung his eyes. But even through the haze of agony he still had enough of his wits to fight back.

His first attack did virtually nothing, bouncing off the Fenrir's bone plate without so much as a dent. The second attack did better, enticing a yelp from the creature as it tore into its exposed throat. Not enough to kill it, but enough to make it stumble and give Jack some breathing room.

The beast shook off the attack quicker than he expected though and moved in for the kill with a murderous howl, only to be cut short by Crimson's fist crushing its skull. Jack hide a small sigh of relief as he plastered an unhinged grin on his face. No reason to let them know how close to death he had been.

"That was fun," he said as he pulled himself up. His face wound still burned in agony, but one didn't become a member of the 9 by shying away from a little pain. Crimson was hardly his massively monstrous self, but he still stood a good head taller than Jack. His reddish skin pulsated as the blood of their host coursed through his veins.

"Winter says she spotted a van. She thinks they're on to us," Crimson said, his voice as if two boulders were being ground together. Jack honestly couldn't tell why Winter wanted him to whisper sweet nothings into her ears. She might as well have been asking to have her ears shredded with sandpaper.

He supposed that was love.

"Then I guess our fun's over," Jack said with a grimace. He had hoped that they could have had more time to put some distance between themselves and the heroes, but he had gotten too caught up in breaking dear Riley…

Jack's head whipped around to the open door that the Fenrir had squeezed through. He caught a flash of blonde hair as it rushed out into the darkness. Fury curled in his gut at the realization that not only had he been wounded by a mutt, but he had lost his prize.

"Tell the others it's time to leave," Jack growled out. Crimson nodded and moved to go warn the others as Jack contemplated his options. He could go out and chase her, but were one of Cadmus' creatures was, more wouldn't be far behind. The woman had proven to be a thorn in the Nine's side for far too long. He had dealt with heroes, and villains, who had wanted to end the Nine, but none of them had been as irritating as Cadmus.

They had lost Nice Guy to her a few months ago and learned that his power didn't have much of an effect on creatures that didn't care about things like friends. It was almost amusing to watch as the normally calm and suave Nice Guy fall into an utter panic as the monsters tore him to shreds. Jack supposed that it was a blessing in disguise given how irritating his smug attitude had been to deal with, but he had also been the reason that their hosts rarely ratted them out. After all, if Nice Guy asked a few people if the Slaughterhouse 9 could stay in their house for a while, well why should they say no?

Without Nice Guy keeping a low profile had become harder and harder. And now he had lost his prize because of one of her mutts? Jack could feel his grip tighten around his switchblade as he made his way to the back door. He was going to make sure that dear Cadmus suffered for all the inconveniences she had caused him. Here he was, a wandering murderer trying to make his mark on the world, and she just couldn't respect that.

Perhaps it was time to give Brockton Bay a visit.

* * *

Annette gently rubbed the poor girl's back as she clung to her like a limpet. Siren's wailed in the background as police and PRT alike cordoned off the area and evacuated the surrounding houses. They didn't think that the Nine would try to come back, but it was better to be safe than sorry. A mousy looking paramedic had wrapped a shock blanket around Riley. Annette wasn't sure how much it helped with the hollow look in the girl's eyes, but it certainly warded off the biting chill of the night breeze.

It had been sheer luck that they had found the girl running down the street as if the devil himself was one her heels. And given the situation that they had found when they entered her house that wouldn't have been too far off.

The decaying corpse of one of her Fenrir had only confirmed the girl's story even more. They had missed Jack and his band by a minute at best. The doors had been thrown open without care and blood was tracked all along the carpet, detailing a rush to the back door. If they had been there a few seconds sooner…

Annette shook off that line of thinking. She had learned that what-ifs and could-have-beens didn't help. She had to deal with what she had, and what she had was a new triggered and deeply traumatized parahuman girl who had just lost her entire family to a group of monsters wearing human skin. The parallels between her and Riley were obvious, but she had yet to voice them. She still didn't like talking about what had happened in Ellisburg after all this time, for such a fresh experience to be thrown back into the girl's face would be even worse.

Her thoughts darkened at the knowledge of quite a few people who would gladly subject a six-year-old girl to such memories in order to gain the slightest advantage against the Nine. And that wasn't even getting into the fact that the girl was a Tinker. They still weren't sure what she might have accomplished with the haphazardly thrown together equipment they had found in the house, but the fact that the Nine didn't just outright kill her was telling enough.

Annette hummed a lullaby as the girl's exhaustion started to catch up with her. Her near vice like grip started to slacken as she slumped against Annette's form like a ragdoll. It brought back heart aching memories of when Taylor used to sleep in her grip. Annette allowed her hand to softly stroke the girl's hair as she snoozed against her side.

She only moved her crimson eyes away from the girl to look towards her approaching teammate. She was tempted to ask if they had caught them, but from the grim and angry expression on Narwhal's face, the answer to that question was obvious.

"They got away?" Annette asked, a faint trace of anger worming its way into her voice. The Nine were quite skilled at slipping away like rats abandoning a ship. For all their boasting about being masters of murder, when faced with stiff resistance they tended to fold like a deck of cards and scatter off into the night. If Narwhal didn't find them within the first hour then it was unlikely that they would find them at all.

"I've ordered the choppers to circle the area. If we're lucky we'll catch sight of them when they try to sneak out of town," Narwhal said. The fact that they were never that lucky was left unsaid. The taller woman's gaze softened as she watched the girl snooze against her teammate's form. "How is she?"

"She just watched her entire family get killed, how do you think she is?" Annette snapped. Narwhal flinched a bit and she immediately regretted her choice of tone. They were dealing with the Nine, tragedies were something to expect. "Sorry, I'm just…"

"I understand," Narwhal said as Annette trailed off, unable to voice her thoughts. Feelings of heartache and loss weren't ones that could be articulated very easily or willingly.

"What will happen to her?" Annette asked as the silence trailed on.

Narwhal pursed her lips as she considered the question. "The PRT will probably want to supervise her given her status as a parahuman."

Annette could feel her expression darken at the thought of some faceless bureaucrat deciding that using a traumatized girl to build Tinker tech devices would be more valuable than getting her therapy. She knew of course that there were good people in the PRT and Protectorate, but they were the shiny symbol of justice they liked to paint themselves to be.

Annette knew that all too well.

"It would be for her protection," Narwhal added at her teammate's darkening expression. Young and unsupervised parahumans tended to be coerced into gangs rather quickly, and a Tinker, no matter what specialty, would be worth their weight in platinum. The girl would never be able to live a normal life, she would have to watch her back every day for the rest of her existence.

The fact that she didn't have any living family left only complicated matters. A rather quick search with the Guild analysts had revealed that her grandparents were dead and neither of her parents had any brothers or sisters. The girl had literally lost her entire family in one night. Unless the Protectorate took responsibility for her there would be nobody to raise a fuss if she just happened to disappear.

"I know, I know," Annette conceded. But even with her acceptance of Narwhal's words she still couldn't worry for the girl's future. She hadn't asked for this, no more than Annette had asked for Nilbog. And now, even if all the Slaughterhouse members dropped dead right this second, she was still going to have to live with the scars that this night had caused. It would be a black shadow casting over her life, a weight pressing down on her shoulders. She didn't want to add to that weight, no matter what the Protectorate and PRT wanted.

"I can pull some strings and try to get her placed under me," Narwhal suggested. While it wasn't the perfect solution, Annette trusted that her teammate would make sure that Riley wouldn't be forced into anything that she didn't want to be part of. For all her gruff attitude towards her Wards, Narwhal was a big softie on the inside when it came to children.

"Thank you," Annette said with as much sincerity as she could muster. This girl already had her past wrecked, she didn't want her future to be taken from her as well.

* * *

 _Months Later_

"Aunt Annette!"

The woman in question smiled as a blonde torpedo slammed into her legs. The young girl gave the older woman a bright smile that made her heart melt like butter. There should be a law about that level of cuteness.

"Mr. Snuggles and I were going to have a tea party," Riley said as she detached herself from Annette's legs and started pulling her deeper into the room. Annette had to hold back a snicker at the disgruntled expression of Mr. Snuggles. Despite the fact that the Fenrir probably didn't even understand what was going on, it still managed to give a look of sheer loathing every time Riley said its name. The fact that she had tied a pink bonnet around his head certainly didn't help.

Annette allowed herself to be seated with Mr. Snuggles and Riley as the young girl started to babble on about her latest project. It was amusing to hear talk about surgery while seated around a Disney princess table. Though if Annette was honest, she only understood about every other word coming out of the young Tinker's mouth.

As Riley continued to talk about her latest project, something about metabolic reactions, she allowed her crimson eyes to glance around the room. Work benches filled with state of the art equipment and beyond dotted the workshop while blueprints were scattered across workstations haphazardly. A sealed door lead to a refrigerated meat locker where the blonde was allowed to store her supplies. Nothing human of course, but she had quite a few animal carcasses that were being put through scientific rigor.

"…I wanted to add spiked claws, because how cool would that be to have bone claws come out of your knuckles! But Ms. Vanessa told me I couldn't do that because it was against the rules," Riley finished with a positively dejected expression adoring her normally cheerful face. It was as if she had been told that she couldn't go to Disneyland.

"I'm sure that they had a good reason, Riley," Annette said as she took a sip of the tea. It was quite good tea. Even though she didn't need to eat anymore she still enjoyed taking part in events like this. It helped to keep her grounded with the rest of humanity. Something that she desperately needed.

"I know," Riley said with a downtrodden tone. "But it still would have been cool. Cindy agreed with me. Can I see her again soon?"

Annette hummed as she considered the question. She would have liked to have said 'yes', but Vancouver wasn't exactly a short trip. It was on the other side of the continent for goodness' sake. Even with Tinker Tech planes the journey still took a few hours, and she wasn't too keen on hiring Strider every time she wanted to see Riley. As much money as she had made from her salary and bounties the man wasn't cheap.

Still, she did want Cindy and Riley to spend some time together. The older girl was a good stabilizing influence on dear Riley and helped fill the lost sibling role that Riley so desperately craved. The normalcy that the two provided for each other had a positive effect on both of them.

"Her school ends in two weeks, perhaps she could come visit then," Annette suggested as she set her tea cup down. "Speaking of which, who is your school going? Have you been making many friends?"

Some of the infectious cheer that had been present on the blonde's face dimmed a little at the mention of school. "It's okay," she said with a shrug as she fiddled with her teacup. "The science teachers don't like it when I tell them they're wrong. They keep telling me that I'm too young to understand how the digestive system works – but I do! I- I just can't tell them why. And everyone else thinks that I'm weird when I start talking about it."

Annette stood up and scooped the young girl into a hug. "I know it can be frustrating when people don't understand you," she said comfortingly. She should have expected something like this to happen. Riley was feeling isolated in her school structure despite her best efforts. They were trying to give her as normal of an experience as they could, but it was hard to do when the girl wanted to spend every waking minute Tinkering. Annette suspected that the Tinkering was her coping mechanism. Riley had done a good job at not talking about her superhero life in school, but she really didn't have anyone who could understand her situation.

All of the other Wards were older and all went to the same school. They didn't know what it was like to be totally isolated from their peers and not have anyone to talk to about it during school hours. Riley was feeling isolated from her classmates because she didn't have anyone to confide in. The fact that Annette doubted that any of them could even begin to understand what the girl was going through was another division.

"But everyone here understands, alright?" Annette asked as Riley returned her hug with a nod. She really wished that she could have adopted the girl, but she was already getting flak from the Youth Guard with Cindy. Annette tried to limit her time away from her adopted daughter, but there were some cases where she needed to be on the ground. Cindy didn't mind too much as it usually meant that she could stay with the Dallons or Pelhams, but it was still a point of contention between her and the Youth Guard. Annette knew all too well what it was like for a parent to be absent in a child's life, and she didn't want Cindy to go through the same experiences she had as a child.

"How about I call Cindy and get her on video chat?" Annette suggested. The wide tooth grin that Riley gave her was all the confirmation she needed. With a laugh, she pulled herself and Riley up from the table.

While she couldn't erase the scars that the monsters had left on these two girls, she would do everything in her power to make sure that their lives weren't controlled by those scars. They deserved better than what they got. And she would spend every waking minute to make sure that they got what they deserved.

* * *

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	2. Mother's Day

**Enjoy!**

Mother's Day

Annette groaned as she tried to snuggle even further into the covers. Sunlight crept through her blinds, seeping into the room like an unwanted visitor. It almost seemed to mock her attempts of falling back asleep as it reflected off every surface it could. A harsh glared filled her room like a solar disco ball, irradiating the room with rays of light.

A red eye blinked open, glaring at the alarm clock set next to her bed. The bright blue numbers glowed in the morning dawn like a bad omen. The digital clock flickered to six A.M with an almost deliberate slowness, as if it was trying to make her morning as agonizing as possible. Annette blew a strand of pure white hair out of her face as she pouted at the time as if that could somehow convince it to speed up.

While it wasn't really cold, the air had a nip to it, and the blankets were so warm and inviting. Annette was confident that if she could she would stay in bed all day just so she didn't have to deal the slight chill in the air. She could just sleep the day away if she chose to, it wasn't as if she had anything to do.

Strictly speaking, she didn't need things like sleep or food, but she liked to take part of them. It kept her tied to the people around her and didn't leave her a hollow shell of the person she once was.

Though even with her change she still wasn't a morning person. She hated having to do things in the morning. She always preferred snuggling into the warm blankets and letting the morning hours pass away slowly as she tried to maintain the illusion that she could go back to sleep. Her red eye closed with a snap as she tried to drown out the blinding light. It would have been easier to just stand up and close the blinds, but that would mean that she would have to get out of bed and walk over.

Staying in bed was just easier.

She tugged on the blanket, pulling it over her head in an effort to shield herself from the harsh glow of that dreaded star. Perhaps she could get Kevin to cover the sun so that she could rest in peace. That would certainly be better than having to deal with this. But even as thoughts of blocking out the sun for her own benefit flittered through her mind, her rest was interrupted.

A hideous screech filled the air like the wail of a banshee. The noise echoed through the house, squeezing into every nook and cranny, leaving nothing untouched. Whatever semblance of peace was left was shattered in an instant as the neighborhood dogs began to howl. A cacophony of sound filled the sky, shaking what little desire for sleep still remained in Annette's body.

Annette shot up from her bed, tossing the covers aside as she rushed down the stairs, tearing open her door without hesitation. Any thoughts of discomfort were brushed aside as a dread panic filled her form. Her heart would have been pounding in her chest if it was still capable of beating. Her eyes glowed with devilish light as she prepared for a fight.

The alarm that Dragon had installed in her house wouldn't go off unless something was wrong. She had no idea who would be stupid enough to attack her in her house in what she assumed was a vain attempt to kill her, but she would make them regret their choice with every fiber of their being. The smell of smoke and charred materials filled her nostrils as she stomped down the stairs, ready to tear apart whatever fool was idiotic enough to attack her in her very home. As she rounded the corner she raised her fist, ready to smash the intruder's skull in, only to stop short at the sight before her.

With an almost dumbfounded expression, she watched as her adopted daughter tried to reach the all clear signal that would shut the alarm off from her prison. The dark-haired girl seemed to slump as she rounded the corner, and for a moment Annette saw a flash of disappointment cross over her daughter's face before it was quickly schooled away.

"Uh, hi mom," Cindy said with a sheepish smile as her free hand waved. The rest of her body was covered in a layer of containment foam, trapping her in place. Annette's gaze wandered over to the stove where black smoke poured off the frying pan in thick waves. A smoldering ruin was all that was left of whatever food her daughter had been trying to cook. Food stuff was scattered across the counter as if a tornado had blown through, ruining any semblance of organization. A cook book was splayed out on the table, loose pages thrown aside in a maelstrom of chaos.

Annette said nothing as she slowly turned her gaze back to her daughter. Cindy's smile flinched as the blank look on her mother's face. Annette could practically feel the excuses running through her daughter's mind in a desperate attempt to salvage the situation.

"This—this isn't what it looks like," Cindy stammered at the questioning gaze of her mother. Annette raised an eyebrow, casting her gaze across the nearly ruined kitchen before settling back on her daughter.

"Oh? Because it looks like you're making a mess," she said with a chastising tone. Cindy flushed and looked down, unable to meet her gaze. Annette sighed as she stepped forward, brushing globs of containment foam out of Cindy's silky black hair.

"What were you trying to do sweetie?" Annette asked as she tugged on a few tangled strands. Cindy winced at the rough feeling but made no sound. Annette took a glance at the cook book's open page. Her favorite pancake recipe laid bare on the page and Annette felt a sudden longing for the dish. It had been one of her mother's favorite recipes when she had been a child and was nothing less than heaven on taste buds. She couldn't count how many times Taylor had begged her to make them. But these pancakes were for special occasions, they were meant to be cherished and loved, not used for every other meal.

"Was trying to make you breakfast," Cindy muttered as Annette pulled the containment foam's dissolving solution from its shelf. Fortunately, Dragon had been kind enough to give her a supply of the material so she didn't have the call on the PRT every time it went off.

"Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but why were you trying to cook me breakfast. You've never cooked before," Annette said as the foul-smelling liquid ate away at the bonding agents. Cindy was defiantly going to need a shower after being doused in this stuff.

"Because today's Mother's Day," Cindy said as the last of the containment foam slumped off her form, freeing her from her bonds. Annette paused, her mind going into overdrive as she tried to recall the date. It was Mother's Day, wasn't it?

She had been so focused on her work that she hadn't even realized that the day had been creeping up on her.

"And, you were trying to cook me breakfast because it was Mother's Day," Annette asked the young teen slowly. She managed to keep her hands from shaking as the girl nodded, her knotted back hair swaying in step. Annette couldn't cry anymore, but she still felt a stab of grief to the gut as she tried to keep herself from shaking.

 _Annette heard their voices before they even opened the door. As careful as he had been, Danny wasn't the most discrete of people, and Taylor's rambunctious laughter hadn't helped either._

 _"Mommy!" the four-year-old squealed in delight with a wide grin as she plowed through the door. Annette laughed as he precious daughter threw herself on the bed to give her a hug. The warmth of the blankets paled in comparison to her daughter's hug. "We made you breakfast Mommy."_

 _"Did you now?" Annette asked with a smile as her husband walked through the door with a tray in hand. The smell of pancakes and sausage filled the room as she sat herself up, careful to keep Taylor from falling off the side._

 _"Yeah! Me and Daddy made pancakes," her daughter said with a wide smile. Even as the English teacher in her winced Annette decided to not correct her daughter's grammatical misspeak this time. Not, when she was trying to do something so nice for her._

 _"Just like your mother did," Danny said as he set the tray on the bed. The food smelled even more delicious up close, and it looked just as good._

 _"Happy Mother's Day," Taylor said with a laugh as she settled down next to her mother._

"Mom, are you alright?"

Annette tore herself from her memory to look back down at her adopted daughter's concerned expression. With an only slightly trembling hand Annette stroked his hair as if the slightest touch would make her disappear. Her daughter's amber eyes looked up at her with such love and concern that Annette felt like she was drowning.

"You're not mad, are you?" Cindy asked, her voice full of hesitation and self-doubt. Annette shook her head furiously, white strands of hair flying all over the place. Her lips trembled as she tried to force the words out.

"No sweetie, I'm not mad. I- I'm happy," she said honestly as a smile graced her lips. Cindy quirked her head a little as if she couldn't quite believe what her mother was saying.

"You are?"

"Yes, I am. So why don't we clean up and try this again?" Annette asked as a wide grin broke out across her adopted daughter's face. The entire room seemed to light up as she dashed off to collect the supplies to remake the pancakes, uncaring of the containment foam patches that covered the floor. They would have to clean those up eventually, but that could wait for now. Right now, they had pancakes to make.

Annette knew that she would never be able to replace the memories of Taylor and Danny, and she didn't want to. They would always hold a special place in her heart, and she was never going to let those memories go, not when they were the only thing that she had left of them. But that didn't mean she had to live in the past.

Cindy had done this for her without provocation or urging. Just a deep-seated desire to make her adopted mother feel special on Mother's Day. A smile spread across Annette's lips as she helped Cindy collect some of the supplies, their laughter filling the room as the danced around the foam patches.

She couldn't make any more memories with Danny or Taylor. But that didn't mean she couldn't make new ones with Cindy.

* * *

 **Special Thanks to my Patrons: Velzon, Sphinxes, Sanjay, xxpowerxx1qz and Marcel**


	3. Empire's End

**Now that I've spoiled you with fluff, I need to remind you all why Annette is the mother of all monsters.**

 **Enjoy!**

Empire's End

"Mom!"

Annette looked up from her paperwork at the sound of her daughter's panicked shout. She tore away from the desk without hesitation, dashing her way to where her daughter was. The young girl was staring out the living room window with an ashen look plastered over her face. The poor girl was so pale that she looked like they could have been blood relatives.

"What is it, sweetie?" Annette asked with as much compassion as she could muster. Cindy didn't look like she was physically hurt, but she looked more than terrified of whatever had caught her attention. The young parahuman said nothing as she pointed out the window. Annette turned her gaze toward where she was pointing and froze.

Spikes taller than men jutted out of the ground, cutting her house off from the main street. The silvery towers of metal gleamed in the morning sun, a terrifying promise of pain for all who tried to interfere. The only break in the nearly solid wall of metal was a space where two men stood, completely unperturbed by the unusual environment. Annette felt a growl build up in her chest as she recognized who they were. Allfather and Kaiser of the Empire.

Annette had never concerned herself much with the activities of the gangs that plagued Brockton Bay. Oh, she would lend a few Spatori here or there to assist the Protectorate and PRT, but they had never been much of an issue for her. Most people were smart enough not to antagonize the most powerful Master class cape on the planet. A few individuals had approached her during her first few weeks back in the city, but she made it very clear what would happen if they pushed too hard. Apparently, Allfather and his subordinate fell into a very specific category of stupidity.

Annette pulled Cindy away from the window and looked her in the eye. She could see the fear welling up behind those amber orbs of hers. The young girl had done a remarkable job these last few months with therapy, but she was still very much a damaged and scared little girl. "Sweetie, I need you to go call the Protectorate while I deal with this. If they give you any trouble tell them that I told you to call, understand?" Annette asked. Cindy nodded in agreement and scampered off to where the house phone was located.

"Cadmus! I wish to speak with you," a loud and sonorous voice called out from the front yard. A scowl passed over Annette's face as she made her way to the two interlopers, only barely keeping herself from crushing the door handle on the way out. Despite the anger emanating off her, that was practically visible at this point Allfather remained stone-faced. Kaiser, on the other hand, looked tense and uncertain.

At least one of them had a brain then.

"What do you want?" Annette asked cutting through any pomp that the man might try to employ. For all that he portrayed himself as a king of the people, he was very much a violent monster who killed any minority that happened to stand in his way.

"Isn't it obvious? I want you to join the Empire," the man said without a hint of hesitation. His helm covered the entirety of his face, shielding his expression from her view. A pair of wings spread out from the sides of his helmet in a vague mockery of Norse mythology. His body was powerfully built and even with her height he still managed to look her in the eyes.

"And why would I ever do that?" Annette asked with no small amount of condensation. Allfather said nothing as about a dozen blades materialized in the space around him. Annette only barely managed to keep herself from lashing out at the sudden threat. Her crimson eyes tried to track the blades, but there were just too many to watch at once with how spread out they were. They certainly looked sharp, and even with her enhanced durability, she wasn't too eager to be hit by one of them. She leveled a smoldering glare at the two neo-Nazis. Kaiser filched, but Allfather remained unperturbed by her defiant display.

"I trust that I've made my point clear?" Allfather asked, a trace amount of wiry humor entering his tone. Annette had to keep her eyes from rolling at the utterly cliché pun. Did the man think that he was the first one to think that up?

"Why do you even need me? Don't you have enough idiots at your beck and call? I can see that this one is pretty useless, but they can't all be as bad as him," Annette taunted, waving her hand in Kaiser's general direction. The man stiffened in rage, but a quick wave from Allfather put him back into his place.

"I'm afraid with some of my forces…indisposed at the moment I'm in need of reinforcements," Allfather said, a real trace of anger entering his voice. Annette couldn't keep the smirk off her face. She knew that with Hookwolf's capture by the hands of the Protectorate the man was down a tank and the Teeth were knocking at his door. This entire plan reeked of desperation.

"And If I say no?" Annette asked curiously as she eyed the floating blades. Allfather's response wasn't to attack, but rather to give her a careless shrug.

"Then I'm afraid that your dear daughter will be caught in the crossfire. A pity for one so young, but that is the life of independents is it not?" Allfather asked with an amused glint in his eyes. She could practically hear the smirk in the man's voice. His entire posture reeked of arrogance.

It only made her rage burn even hotter.

Annette wasn't one to anger easily. She had always tried to keep herself calm when dealing with even her most rebellious students and her daughter's worst tantrums. It had been during her fight with Nilbog that she had experienced for the first time what it was like to give into that anger. A cold hatred that directed every action she made, every idea she had. It was something that permeated into her very skin and was made manifest by her minions. Beings of rage and hate and pain.

And now this man, this fool, thought he could come to her home and threaten her daughter? Annette was more than familiar with death threats from her foes, it was something that she had gotten used to during her time with the Guild so far. But her daughter was off limits. Anyone who failed to learn that lesson would be killed without mercy or hesitation.

"I'd might list off all the reasons why that's a bad idea, but you'll be too dead to care," Annette said, her voice colder than ice even as her rage burned with the intensity of the sun. Allfather old had a split second to contemplate her words when the ground behind him exploded as something rose from the earth. A shadow fell over the group as a titanic scorpion shook loose mounds of dirt and cement from its form. Red eyes glared down at the two Empire capes as claws larger than they were clicked together.

Allfather didn't even have time to turn around before a yellow blur glinted in the air as a stinger burrowed into his chest, slamming through bone and muscles like a wrecking ball. With his internal organs almost completely disintegrated the man couldn't even let out a scream as he was flung in the air like a ragdoll. The blades that he mad manifested with his power clattered to the ground in a useless heap as his dying body failed in the air.

"Wha?" Kaiser half-formed question was cut off as Annette lunged at the distracted parahuman. The man let out a gargled scream as her fist struck his face with enough force to shatter steel. The man's helmet collapsed in on itself, embedding shards of metal in his soft flesh. Blood tricked out of his shattered helm as the futile clawed for release, but Annette gave him no rest. Instead, she wrapped her hand around the man's throat and lifted him up into the air without so much as a grunt. She then proceeded to slam him into the ground like a broken toy. She could hear his ribcage crack under the pressure as his amour warped and bent.

Small spikes of steel burst out of the ground in an obvious attempt to fend her off, but the man's concentration was too broken to pose any threat. Annette reached down and ripped the metal off of Kaiser's face, uncaring for the blood or flesh that came with it. She wanted to look the men who dared to threaten her daughter in the eyes. There was a brief pang of shock as Max Ander's disfigured face stared back up at her with his terror-filled eyes. Or at least he would have if one of his eyes hadn't been mushed into a fine paste and the other coated in blood.

"Y-you can't, the rul—" the man tried to gargle out through his bruised throat. Each breath he took must have felt like agony with most of his ribcage broken, and a faint trickle of blood coming out of his mouth didn't look too healthy either. But Annette didn't care about that, she had a message to send.

"You think I'm going to play by some rules when you threaten my daughter?" Annette asked, her eyes blazing in anger. Droplets of blood shook off her hands as they trembled in barely contained rage. She threw him aside, making him slam into the ground. "You think I'm going to hold anything back when her safety is at stake?"

Halfway through her speech, the man started to crawl away in a desperate attempt to escape her wrath, but she gave him no respite. Instead, she kicked him in the stomach with enough force to send him flying into the makeshift wall he had made. There was a crack as the man fell down to the ground screaming. Annette could hear the sirens of the PRT in the distance, she was going to have to finish this up.

"I don't know if you'll live through this, and I really don't care," Annette said as she dropped herself down to the man's eye level. She could practically hear his heart pounding against what was left of his ribcage. "But I want you to know this. I will do anything to keep my daughter safe from monsters like you. I'll burn the rest of your Empire to the ground if they so much as think about raising a hand against her."

Annette watched as what little light was left in the man's still intact eye faded into nothing, a dying ember in the night. As his head slumped over she checked his pulse. Finding none and satisfied that he wasn't going to try and skewer her she turned to see how Allfather was doing. The moment her eyes found his wasted body she knew that there was no reason to check for vitals. The man's torso was gone, only a few thin threads of flesh and muscle holding his upper and lower body together. Her scorpion Spatori seemed rather satisfied as its mandibles clicked together in excitement. She gave the minion's giant claw as soft pat as a pair of PRT trucks came barreling down the street. She did nothing at the came to a screeching halt, pouring out two dozen well-trained PRT troopers and a pair of Protectorate heroes.

"Annette," Armsmaster simply said at the troopers fanned out in case of any nasty surprises.

"Armsmaster," Annette replied, returning the man's rather curt greeting. While she didn't especially like Armsmaster, she did respect him, particularly when she discovered that he had been part of the Ellisburg operation.

"We got a call that Allfather and Kaiser were present," he said as his visor scanned the surroundings. From where they were standing she knew they could see either body past the bus-sized scorpion and the wall of metal spikes. She stepped aside, signaling to her minions to do the same. Armsmaster's face hardened at the sight of the two dead men while his partner, Triumph, turned an interesting shade of green.

"You can pick up what's left of them," she said with a negligent wave towards the dead bodies. She supposed she could have had a bit more decorum, but she really couldn't bring herself to care. She felt no regret for what she did, and she would do it a thousand times over to protect her daughter.

"Why?" Triumph asked, his voice faint and fleeting as he stared at the pulverized remains of the two capes. While she couldn't quite pin down the man's age, but he sounded young and probably wasn't used to such displace of savagery.

"Because they threatened Cindy," Annette said simply. There was no reason to try and explain any more than that. She knew she would probably have to face a battery of questions and a mountain of paperwork, but it would all be worth it. So long as Cindy was safe she didn't care.

"I'll have to ask you to come to the Rig," Armsmaster said, not unkindly. Triumph, on the other hand, looked like he was about to throw a fit at her apparent lack of compassion towards the two animals that had tried to coerce her with her daughter.

"I understand. Just make sure that Cindy's safe," she said, allowing herself to be led to one of the vans by the PRT troopers. They said nothing as she took her seat in the near featureless van, but she could see some faint approval in their body language. She knew that Allfather had never particularly cared about PRT casualties before. How many of their brothers and sisters in arms had died because of that man? How many children had lost their parents or how many had lost their spouse?

She didn't feel an ounce of guilt over what she had done to that man. If anything, he got off lightly compared to Kaiser. He died almost instantly, never knowing what horrors she could inflict upon them. But this would be a message to the rest of the city. Mess with Cindy and you die screaming.

It wasn't a promise of her actions or a threat of her vengeance.

It was a **fact**.

* * *

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	4. Training

**Enjoy!**

Training

Sophia Hess was in pure agony. Her lungs burned as if she had a thousand needles in them, her legs felt as if they were on fire. Sweat soaked her shirt and clung to her like a second skin as the sun blazed in the sky. Her entire body was screaming in protest as her shoes padded against the dirt track. All in all, she was fairly miserable.

Sophia wasn't a stranger to physical exertion, she had jumped rooftops as part of her "hobby" as her mother liked to call it, but this was well beyond anything that she had tried before. Her normally graceful and controlled motions were haphazard and sluggish from exhaustion. All around her others were in similar condition, some being even worse off than her. At least she had a reasonably fit body, unlike that rather chunky girl in the back who was panting for air despite only having finished a few laps at best.

The pleasant green that surrounded the track looked far more enticing after what felt like an eternity of pounding her feet against the dull brown track. The water bottle attached to her hip was the only source of comfort that she had, and even that was almost exhausted. She had tried to conserve what little liquid she had, but it was just so tempting with the sweltering heat bearing down on her. Still, she couldn't keep this up forever, she needed _some_ form of release from this hell. For a brief moment, she allowed herself to come to a stop, giving her screaming muscles some much-needed relief. Her hands fell to her knees as she struggled to keep herself from kneeling over. But her respite from her torment was short lived as a sharp whistle cut through the air and a megaphone squeal followed soon after.

"Did I say you could _stop_?" the voice screeched from the other end of the track. Sophia turned to glare at the source of her tormenter, a portly looking woman standing on the other end of the track. Though she couldn't see it Sophia could easily imagine the scowl on the woman's face. Piggot didn't seem to have much of a personality aside from angry and even angrier. The woman was beyond difficult to deal with, but Sophia could grant her some grudging respect given the capabilities she and her partners had demonstrated.

If anyone had told her that a human could take down a parahuman without Tinker tech support she would have laughed them off. The idea of an unpowered nobody trying to fight off someone like Jack Slash was laughable to the extreme. Unpowered people were supposed to be the weak sheep that parahuman guided, protecting them from the disasters that were wrought upon this world.

That had been before the camp director landed one of the older parahuman attendees on their butt in the time it took someone to blink. They had shown them some declassified footage from some of their former team's missions, and quite frankly Sophia would have run away screaming if she had been put in that situation. Fighting gangbangers was one thing, fighting monsters like the Slaughterhouse was another thing entirely.

"Extra laps for everyone!"

Still, that grudging respect didn't make this any less difficult. Sophia winced at the sound of the pained groans that filled the air and the dark glares being directed her way. Her feet quickly found themselves running once more despite the pain running up and down her legs. She had no desire to get on the other's bad side again. Finding her locker full of garbage had been one time too many.

"I see you're keeping your recruits busy."

Emily Piggot didn't turn her gaze away from Hess until she was certain that she wasn't going to stop the moment her back was turned. Satisfied that fear of her fellow trainees' retribution would keep her in line the woman allowed herself to turn to her old acquaintance. The amused grin on Annette's face seemed so alien for someone so inhuman looking, but she was hardly one to judge someone by their appearance.

"I find that they're less likely to cause problems if they're too tired to move," Emily said. Of course, this activity also assisted in the development of their physical capabilities. She had always found the typical punishment of putting Wards and Protectorate capes on monitor duty to be a waste of time and resources. Monitor duty bored them out of their skulls, which made them perform substandardly and it didn't teach them to fear punishment. It became more of an annoyance to get out of more than anything else. Actually forcing them to do physical activities until they couldn't anymore was a much more beneficial punishment. It homed in their abilities that would actually benefit them in the future and taught them to fear punishment.

Annette hummed as she came to stand side by side with the retired PRT agent. Her crimson gaze swept out the two dozen or so capes lapping around the dirt ring that served as their track field. "I see your class is bigger than usual," the Master cape noted with interest. Emily couldn't stop a pride-filled smile from crossing over her lips at the parahuman's observation.

"The brass decided to give us some more funding once they saw the results," Emily said with no small amount of pride. There had long been a call for a more standardized training program of the Protectorate, but it had always fallen by the wayside thanks to a limited budget and the sheer variation of powers. People didn't seem to see what was the point in training dozens of people on the same program when they all had different powers. Parahuman didn't have the ability to standardize themselves like guns and munitions. Each one was unique and different, which was even more of a reason that parahumans _needed_ to receive training, not a reason to exempt them from it.

She supposed if there was one good thing to come out of Ellisburg beside the woman standing next to her it was this. The disaster had been the wake-up call the directors needed to realize just how important something like this was. That still hadn't stopped them from kicking and screaming all the way. It had taken her and Thomson _years_ of negotiations to scrape off what little funding and capes that they could from the Protectorate. None of them had been too eager to give up any of the capes under their command, even if it was only a temporary measure. Emily had to keep herself from rolling her eyes at the internal politics that plagued the PRT. If there was one thing that she wouldn't miss working with them it was that.

Though despite their whining, the results spoke for themselves. A marked improvement in team coordination and a steady drop in disciplinary measures showed that the capes were learning and improving. They weren't as likely to try and fight the villain for glory or run away at the first sign of danger.

"I asked Cindy if she had wanted to come here again," Annette said, a smile teasing her lips. "I found it rather amusing that she turned even paler than me at the thought of coming back here."

Emily grunted in amusement at Annette's words. Despite the girl's status as Annette's daughter, she had pulled no punches with the girl. Whether she had been expecting preferential treatment or not she hadn't gotten any. Whoever these people were outside of this camp didn't matter, because here they were all the same, maggots that needed toughening up. Though she was willing to admit that the girl had been one of her best students and taken her lessons seriously.

"She's a good girl," Emily said with a thin smile. The girl knew all too well what happened to capes with too much power and not enough sense. The scars of Ellisburg ran deep throughout all of them.

"Is Thomson here? I haven't seen him around," Annette said.

"No, he's guest lecturing on parahuman group tactics," Emily said. The offer had been given to both of them, but she would rather stay here in the field than trying to teach a group of Protectorate leaders who thought they knew better than her. If she had been forced to attend that meeting she wouldn't have been able to keep herself from killing one of those muscle-bound idiots.

Perhaps a bit unfair, but she had never quite gotten over the foul taste that the deserters had left in her mouth. No matter how much she tried she could never get over that black mark on their record, and she doubted she ever would. Something like that wasn't something that one could just get over. To see people that you were trusting to have your back and protect you turn tail and run away was something that no combatant wanted to see.

That was the entire reason that she had devoted herself to helping Thomson build this program so that something like that wouldn't happen again. Parahumans needed to learn that just flinging their powers around wasn't good enough in battles of life and death, they needed to be able to think critically about situations and understand how to coordinate with others. Perhaps if they capes at Ellisburg hand understood that they could have coordinated a strategic retreat, but they hadn't and all her friend were dead because of that.

"You know, Panacea can heal anything. All she needs to do is give you a touch," Annette said, giving a meaningful look towards the woman's side. Emily had to roll her eyes, even after all these years Annette's subtly needed some work. It wasn't as if this was the first time that Annette had mentioned the girl, but each time she brought it up in their conversations she gave the Master the same response.

"I'm not going to be healed by a parahuman, Annette," she said, her lips twisting into a grimace. Even after all these years and many surgeries they had only been able to improve her condition minutely. There had just been too much damage to the area when Nilbog's demented pets ripped it out. Trying to get a transplant was out of the question with how badly mangled the entire area was.

"Amelia is a sweet girl, Emily," Annette protested.

"I don't care," Emily snapped, her tone laced with anger. She took a breath to calm down at the woman's surprised expression. "I can't allow my body to be put into another parahuman's hands, Annette. I _can't._ "

She could feel the loudspeaker in her hand groan under the strain as her hand twisted so much her knuckles started to turn white. She pointedly tried to ignore the slight tremor in her wrist. The thought of allowing a parahuman, any parahuman, unconditional access to her body made her shiver in dread. It wasn't as if she hated parahumans, but she was never going to surrender control of her body again, not ever again.

 _Teeth the size of razors tore through flesh like wet tissue._

 _A pained scream._

 _Agony._

"I understand not wanting to give up control Emily," Annette said in a kindly tone. If any other parahuman aside from her had tried to bring this up she would have chewed them up and spit them out without hesitation. They couldn't possibly understand the hell that had been Ellisburg.

But Annette, Annette understood all too well. She knew what it was like to watch your entire world crumble to dust at the hands of an unrepentant monster. She had even worse off than she did, losing her husband and her daughter all in the same space. Civilians weren't meant to suffer like that, that was what the PRT was supposed to do – they were supposed to suffer so that civilians didn't. The knowledge that she had been part of the failing of keeping Ellisburg safe had always weighed heavily on Emily's conscience.

"And I know something like this would be well outside your comfort zone, but you can't live the rest of your life like this," Annette said, her crimson gaze holding above the part of her that had once been her kidneys, but now was nothing more than a mangled mass of flesh that had been sewn shut from the world. Emily scowled.

"It's my body, and I'll do what I want with it," she said, a slight growl of irritation entering her voice. If Annette was perturbed by the display of anger she didn't show it. Then again, this was the woman who dealt with A and S-class threats on a regular basis, so it wasn't as if an unhealthy human was going to be much of a threat to her.

And that was the part that really grated on Emily's nerves.

Even in the aftermath of Ellisburg where it had been normal unpowered humans holding the line alongside Annette's Spatori, the parahumans were the ones to receive all the credit. Admittedly without Annette, they wouldn't have been able to hold off Nilbog for more than a few hours at most, but they would have done it. They _could_ have done it. She could still remember Alexandria's press release to the public about that nightmare.

" _While we should mourn this tragedy, we should also celebrate the three hundred souls that survived this madman's rampage, all thanks to the work of the Protectorate and Independent heroes that came to lift the siege from them," the strongest woman in the world said, her dark helmet gazing out over the crowd._

There had been a brief mention of the PRT agents that had been left behind in the wake of the capes' retreat, but nothing beyond that. No real mention of any of her fallen comrades that she would more for the rest of her life. Even Calvert, the snake that he was. She knew he wouldn't have given a single care about her if she died, but that was why she was a better person that he was.

Annette had tried to raise a fuss about the whole thing, along with a rather sizable group of the survivors, but nothing lasting had ever come of it. There had been controversy and talk about it all, but it was all a show. Emily knew that the Protectorate had the media eating out of the palm of their hand. When they told them to jump the news agencies asked how high. Even with all of the goodwill that Annette had earned from the public, she was no match for the juggernaut of the Protectorate's PR team.

Within the year the media had all but dropped the story, focusing on other Endbringer attacks or Slaughterhouse 9 rampages. There were some brief mentions about the event, but nothing beyond that. It had become a bit of a taboo to talk about it as if somehow ignoring it would grant the thousands of people that died some peace as if they _wanted_ to be forgotten.

It made her blood boil.

Not only had the entire incident been swept aside as a footnote in the tragedies of the world, but the PRT Strike teams themselves were disbanded shortly after. On one hand, Emily could understand why the PRT had given up on that venture, the loss of so many skilled personnel after one mission had been a crippling blow to the organization's power and credibility. It was somewhat difficult to proclaim that non-powered individuals could fight parahumans when they were almost slaughtered to the last man.

But to not only defund the program but rather to shift the entire focus of the organization towards a more supportive role alongside to the much more aggressive and unrestrained parahumans struck Emily as a powerplay. There had just been too many things happening in the aftermath of Ellisburg for it all to be a reaction to the event. Some of this stuff had to have been building up prior to the slaughter. Ellisburg had simply been the finishing move in a masterstroke to remove the PRT from relevance.

It was immensely frustrating to watch something happen and have no power to stop it. Even after all this time campaigning to reform the PRT and Protectorate all she and the former Strike teams had managed to accomplish were smaller programs like this in an effort to help train heroes. There desires to see the PRT agents armed with weaponry, _real_ weapons, not those containment foam toys, had all amounted to squat.

And all the while parahumans were put in the spotlight again and again. They celebrated the heroes and villains that died in droves to the Endbringers but made little mention of the PRT agents that died helping evacuate the cities. Nowadays when people looked to the PRT they didn't think of the organization whose agents stood equal to the capes, but of a bureaucratic nightmare that made the "heroes" job difficult for them.

After all these years the youngest members of society no longer thought of non-powered individuals as threats to parahumans, but rather minor annoyances that couldn't contribute anything. That had been one of the first things that she had tried to dissuade from the people coming to this camp, that non-powered individuals couldn't be threats to them. It was almost cathartic watching their smug looks collapse in on themselves when Thomson landed them on their asses.

"I can't give up control, not any more than I already have," Emily said, her voice tired and weary. She tried to keep her attention focused on the parahumans running the track, but she could feel the weight of Annette's gaze on her as if it was a physical thing. She understood that Annette only wanted to help her, but she couldn't give up what little she had. This camp and her body were the only things that she had left, and she wouldn't give them up, not even for a single second.

"At the very least can you come meet her?" Annette asked softly, though there was some steel to her speech. "I understand why you don't want it to happen, but New Wave isn't like the Protectorate. They want to be accountable for their actions. They want to be better heroes, Emily. And isn't that why you and Thomson made this camp? So that people could be better heroes?"

Emily didn't say anything, but she could feel her ironclad resolve waver a bit. Only by the tiniest fraction, but it was there. She _had_ taken part in this endeavor for that very purpose. To make better capes so that they wouldn't run when the going got tough.

"If you don't want to deal with the Protectorate that's fine. I don't like dealing with them either," Annette said. "But if you don't interact with the very people you're trying to help, then how can you make a better tomorrow?"

Emily wanted to push aside Annette's words. She didn't need parahuman help with her health, she was doing just fine on her own. She had made it this far and she would make it even farther without help.

But there was a truth to her words that she couldn't quite deny. How could she claim that she was trying to train better capes if she didn't even bother with the ones that actually lived up to her standards? Even so, the thought of giving up what little control she had was something that made her insides twist like a tornado.

"Please, at least meet with her. If you still don't want to go through with it I'll let it go," Annette said. Emily tried to keep herself from swallowing. She knew that Annette had given her control of the conversation by putting the choice in her court instead of pushing it, but it still made it no less daunting. Admitting that she needed parahuman help would be an admittance that she couldn't take care of herself, that she needed powers beyond human ken in order to carry on with her life.

But then again, she wouldn't have survived Nilbog's goblins if Annette's minions hadn't interceded. She owed her life to the parahuman next to her, as did over three hundred individuals. She trusted the woman's judgment before in life and death situations before, would this really be so different? At the very least she could go meet the girl if time allowed it, and at least then Annette would stop pestering her about it.

"Alright, I'll go meet her. I'm _not_ promising anything," she added with a searing glare that could have melted steel. Annette remained unaffected by the glare, giving the woman a grin that made her hairs stand up on end. It was like looking at the cat that ate the canary.

 _This may have been a mistake._

 **Piggot is healing, but she still as a ways to go.**

 **So, some worldbuilding in this snippet that I want to explain.**

 **Media**

 **Piggot might be overstating it a bit, but the Protectorate does have the major news channels eating out of the palm of their hands and can direct the narrative as they see fit. Part of this is in part of Cauldron's interference (yes this is a Cauldron plot). Cauldron wants to have as many parahumans available to fight Scion as they can, and thus they consider unpowered individuals to be of lesser value. Now, most capes are glass cannons that anyone with a gun could take down, and Cauldron knows this. They don't want their troops to be killed because a few crazies decided that they don't like parahumans. So, they've slowly been shaping the culture and public perception of capes into something more than human, something that no regular Joe could stand up to. Ellisburg just served as the nail in the coffin so to speak, allowing them to prove that unpowered individuals had no place fighting with parahumans.**

 **Granted, there are parahumans that a person couldn't kill without a nuke, but those are few and far between. But we really don't see many demonstrations of regular people fighting parahumans that much in Worm. There are a few cases like the Dragonslayers (though they use Tinker Tech and Saint is a Teacher thrall) and Coil's mercenaries and Fleur's murderer. But you don't really see a random gang member picking up a gun and filling Miss Militia's face with lead despite being extremely vulnerable compared to some of her other capes. She can dish out massive firepower but is only as tough as a trained human.**

 **Cauldron needed to create a culture where the thought of a normal fighting a parahuman was unthinkable, so they used Ellisburg as a subtle propaganda point. They pushed aside the PRT contributions and focused on the Protectorate ranks. This did alienate Annette and the survivors quite a bit, but they viewed it as an acceptable loss with the possible gains they would be able to make in the future. They did cry out for justice and they did get it, but their interactions with the media were heavily monitored and restricted, and if anything got out that contradicted the narrative the Protectorate had woven they weren't treated with much seriousness. After all, if Alexandria is on the screen telling you that you can't fight a cape compared to a deeply traumatized individual whose one lone voice against everything the media has told you, who are you going to believe?**

 **There is some significant debate about the whole thing, the PR teams weren't entirely able to quash rebellious ideas, but they're treated more academically and theoretically. And after several years of Endbringer attacks and gangs, the people in charge don't want to rock the boat too much, even if Cauldron would allow them in the first place.**

 **New Wave**

 **So, New Wave's situation is a bit different than it was in canon. Here Fleur's murder was basically butterflied away with the death of Allfather and Kaiser, which weakened the Empire significantly. While they do have a relationship with the local Protectorate branch, they have a much closer one with the Guild through Annette's influence. While they don't really focus that much on small time stuff, the Guild does have a powerful reputation and having an independent group backed by them does give them some standing. Other independent groups have emerged in the wake of New Wave, but they aren't as successful as they had initially hoped (but far better than in canon).**

Amy is in a bit of a better headspace thanks to Annette's influence, as she treats the New Wave kids as if they're her own alongside Cindy. Amy has a mother figure that she can actually look up to and be appreciated by. She also is flexing her power more creatively than she was in canon since she can now collaborate with Riley without being an insane murderer. She doesn't feel the guilt and pressure that much since her projects with the bio-tinker are helping a lot of people, more than those that she heals locally. Annette does have a little bit of a hangup with how similar her powers are to Nilbog's, but she doesn't allow it to affect her relationship with the girl. Victoria is a bit more cautious with her powers after Annette pounded it into her head about the dangers of unchecked power. All in all, I would say that New Wave is in a much better place than they were in canon. They still have issues, but they aren't as pressing as they could be.

 **Special Thanks to my Patrons:** Velzon, Sphinxes, Sanjay, xxpowerxx1qz, Marcel, Ask Oliver Oliversen Tegler, RavenS013, and John Ryan

 **Please consider joining my Patrons in donating to my P atreon.**


	5. Torch

**Here we are, a new snippet and some new characters to go with it.**

 **Thanks to** Commissar Carnifex **for betaing.**

Torch

"You know, when you said you wanted to have a girl's day out I figured that we could go do something like the spa or have a movie marathon," Cindy drawled as she shot another wave of fire towards her attackers. They were rather weak flames, and only lasted a few seconds before sputtering out of control, but they were enough to stop the gang members in their tracks. Everyone with half a brain knew better than to walk headlong into a fire. "Not attacking a gang warehouse."

"You did say you thought the gangs were getting a little rowdy," Victoria said as a knife bounced off her skin-tight shield. She then promptly picked the offending gang member up and tossed her to the side. Though it was hardly the best throw ever, even Cindy had to wince a little as the teen who probably wasn't that much older than they were bounced down the street, cursing all the way.

"They always get rowdy when Mom's out of town," Cindy said as she shot a blast of fire towards the bundles of drugs lined up neatly for transportation. While she knew that she should have handed it over to the police it was likely that half of it would be out of evidence lockup before the week was over. While it had improved over the years Brockton Bay was still a den of corruption and criminals.

A pink blast fell from the sky like an angry god and scattered the recuperating criminals. Cindy looked up to see Victoria's equally blonde-haired cousin raining down her energy blasts all while muttering "pew-pew" under her breath. She knew that Crystal liked to try and keep her embarrassing little practice a secret, and had nearly beaten her brother black and blue for trying to make a meme out of it.

Cindy decided to err on the side of caution and just not bring it up.

"I don't know why you're complaining, it's not like any of these guys are a challenge," Crystal noted as she floated to the ground, raising a red-tinted shield to block a led pipe to the head.

It was rather disappointing. Cindy would have hoped to have made a bit bust, especially since this was supposed to be a relaxing day, but it appeared that wouldn't be the case. Even as nice a haul as the drugs were, they were only a drop in the bucket compared to how much the gang made. While the Fang was easily the youngest gang in the city they held an impressive amount of power, especially with the Empire's rather recent loss in leadership. Krieg had taken over for now, but it was clear that he didn't have nearly the same charisma that All-Father had possessed. And since the investigation into Medhall had concluded and gutted most of the company they were seriously hurting for cash.

"It is rather dull," Cindy noted in agreement as the last of the white masked gang members finally decided to surrender. A smart choice when facing not one, but three capes.

"Then perhaps I could remedy that."

Cindy turned around, heart leaping to her throat once she caught sight of the speaker. Standing in the smashed open doorway was Taurus, one of the Fang's main enforcers. A white mask with crudely built horns was attached to his face, revealing his unamused expression. His dark suit was a sharp contrast to the near blinding light from the shattered remains of what had once been a poor door before Victoria had gotten to it. His katana blade laid at his side, but the light yet firm grip showed that he was ready to use it at a moment's notice. His muscles had a tenseness to them that Cindy could recognize from some of the former PRT Strike squads, hinting at some rather throughout training in conjunction with his already deadly powers.

She had never witnessed them first hand, but Cindy had read reports and watched video clips of Taurus using his sword to absorb fire from enemies before dishing it back in a brutal counterattack. He had managed to kill Hookwolf after his escape attempt in the wake of All-Father's death, cementing his position as one of the more dangerous capes in the city.

 _Not_ someone that she wanted to fight, no matter how bored she was.

Cindy said nothing as she took a few steps back, hands wreathed in a defensive fire that made it appear that her eyes were glowing embers. Crystal and Victoria floated up from the ground, keeping their distance while maintaining their ready stance.

"Taurus! Stand down and we'll go easy on you," Victoria said, cracking her knuckles with an eagerness that belied her words for a peaceful resolution. Taurus' only response to the threat of being beaten up by one of the strongest Brutes in the city was to smirk.

Then he _moved._

Cindy wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was staring down the masked man, the next something slammed into her gut, sending her flying across the ground as her breath left her lungs. As she desperately tried to keep herself from seeing doubles she caught a glance of Crystal firing off a few lasers as Taurus as Victoria dive bombed him. What lasers he didn't just outright dodge were quickly absorbed by his blood red blade, a faint glow surrounding the metal. They then proceeded to perform a backflip right over Victoria as she bulldozed her way through the spot he had just been standing in.

Taurus then twisted around to pull out his blade and made a quick slash towards the exposed Crystal. Cindy shot up to her feet in a blur of motion and let loose a burst of fire that made her hair whip around her face, hot air blasting into her like an air horn. The orange flames twisted the air as it hungrily shot out towards its prey.

But instead of moving out of the inferno's path like any rational person might, Taurus stood his ground, blade in hand as the flames struck. Cindy could only watch as his sword glowed with untapped potential as he absorbed the flames, twisting them through the air as if his blade was some sort of vacuum. The few flames that weren't absorbed by his sword washed over a bubble surrounding him as if he had an invisible force field.

Seeing that they were doing more harm than good Cindy cut off her flames, letting the firestorm die out. She kept her hands wreathed in fire, but she wasn't sure what good she would be able to do against someone who could turn her very weapon against her like that. As the flames cleared Victoria dive-bombed the man again with an expression of anger etched onto her features. Once again, against all rational thought, Taurus charged _towards_ the angry Brute.

For a second Cindy feared that Victoria might splatter the man against the ground like a pancake, but at the last second Taurus jumped. He then proceeded the land directly on Victoria's back and slam his foot into the base of her neck. Cindy knew that Victoria was all but invincible while her force field was up, but she had to wince as the blonde lost control of her flight and slammed into the ground, cracking concrete.

Crystal let loose another volley of lasers, but as before what few the man didn't dodge he simply absorbed with his blade. Cindy shot out more blasts of fire, but this time she made an effort to surrounded the man in a ring of flames. The ground glowed red from the sheer heat of the flames as she struggled to keep them under control as so they didn't burn the building to the ground with them inside.

A fierce grin crossed her face as she watched the man flinch for a moment as the flames grew so tall that they nearly touched the ceiling. Even with her resistance, she could still feel the waves of heat rolling off the flames like a tsunami as her prisoners and companions broke out into a sweat.

But her victory was short-lived as Taurus stepped through the flames as if they were nothing more than a stiff breeze. They almost seemed to be smothered under his feet as his protective shield glowed in defiance. Cindy growled, somewhat off-put by the casual display of power and bent the flames so they all came crashing down on the man. There was a brief flicker of surprise etched onto the man's face as the wave of fire rolled on him, but it was quickly schooled away as the flames broke against his shield.

"I thought that you might have been a challenge," Taurus said in a dismissive tone as if he were addressing a group of children. He seemed to ignore the near bubbling ground beneath his feet in favor of giving the three teens a sneer that could have curdled milk. Instead of pushing the attack, the man sheathed his sword, hiding the glowing blade from the world. "I see that I was mistaken."

"I'll show you a challenge," Victoria roared as she charged forward, ignoring Cindy and Crystal's cries for her to stop. Stray pebbles and debris from her little face plant fell out of her hair as the air around her bent with the speed that she was moving. Her expression was filled with such fury that Cindy feared for a moment that Victoria might kill the man if she got her hands on him. But once again, instead of crumbling under the threat of one of the city's most powerful Brutes, the man stood his ground, planting his feet as if he were going to try and take her blow head on. But a chill of fear swept up Cindy's spine as she watched Taurus discreetly wrap his hand around his blade's hilt.

"Victor-," Cindy started to shout in warning, but the blonde Brute was too focused on her prize to head the warning or see the trap she was flying straight into.

Taurus _moved_.

A streak of blazing red was all that Cindy saw as Taurus lashed out at Victoria. The blade glowed as if it had come straight from the forge, twisting the air around it in a haze just as a figure landed in-between the two combatants. Cindy felt her eyes bug out in surprise as Crystal raised one of her semi-translucent bubble shields to stand against Taurus' assault, the older girl apparently realizing that Victoria was flying straight into a trap.

Victoria served out of the way, almost shooting straight through the roof as she tried to change her momentum from slamming into her older cousin, but Taurus had no such compunctions as his red blade slammed into the glowing shield. While her younger brother's shielding was more powerful, Cindy had seen those shields stand up to concentrated gunfire with little effort.

Taurus' blade cut through it like a knife through wet paper.

Everything happened too quickly for Cindy to keep track of with her amber eyes. There was a shrill scream that made goosebumps break out along her skin as the protective bubble surrounding Crystal popped. The older blonde was sent flying back as if she had been struck with a sledgehammer being wielded by Alexandria herself. There was a sharp crack as she struck a wooden crate, hitting it with such force that some of the planks shattered. Bits of wood clattered to the ground as she slumped down, a dazed expression of pain on her face.

Cindy felt her heart leap up into her throat as she stared at the huge gash on the older girl's chest. The cut started at her hip and cut straight across her body, all the way up to her opposite shoulder. The gash was so deep that Cindy was certain she would have been able to fit her finger inside of it with room to spare. She even thought she saw a little bone poking its way through the flesh.

There was no blood, instead, the wound glowed as if it had been cauterized by a fire, but the scale of the injury did little to ease her discomfort. All she could do was scream in panic, hurling fireballs at Taurus in a mixture of anger and fear. Her heart pounded in her chest and her blood rushed to her ears and all she could see was the monster.

Grinning with far too many teeth, claws dripping in blood Mommy on the flooranddaddygetupandhelphelphelphelp-

Cindy's sudden panic attack overtook whatever sensibilities she had left as she hurdled herself as the monsters, wreathed in an inferno of flames that made the ground _boil_ as she tore at it like a mad dog. All that she could go to get rid of the grinning, nightmarish face.

Her frenzied assault was cut short as something struck her in the forehead and darkness overtook her vision. But as the last of her conscience clung on she could still see the monster behind her eyelids, burned into her retina for all time.

Laughing.

* * *

Taurus was angry, but that was almost a given. There were very few moments in the man's life since his Trigger that he _wasn't_ angry. It had been a slow-burning thing back then, mere embers compared to the bonfire it was now.

A pair of guards escorted him through the building, but they all knew that if he so chose that he would be able to kill them without breaking a sweat. They were mere humans, where he was a parahuman.

As they came to the door Taurus braced himself. Not out of fear, but so that he wouldn't do something stupid and try to strangle the man on the other side of the door. He would die by his hands eventually, but not today. His face was blank as he stepped through into the dark room, only lit up by a handful of bulbs surrounding his… _boss'_ desk.

Oh, did he loathe calling this fool his boss.

For a long moment, nothing was said. The man's chair remained turned away from him refusing to give him the respect that he deserved as his status as a parahuman. Smoke wafted up from the back of the chair and Taurus was forced to inhale the man's bad habit as he kept himself as stoic as possible, waiting for the man to finally deign him with his attention.

"You know, I used to think that you actually had a brain in there Adam," the man drawled, his voice low and needling. Taurus allowed his expression to shift just a bit as his lips begged to twist into a sneer. He had left his human name a long time ago when he realized the truth of who he was and what he was meant to be.

"But this?" the man said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. The man's chair squeaked a little bit as he finally turned around to give Taurus the most condescending look he had ever seen. "This was just stupid."

Taurus bit down on his tongue as felt the urge to scream at the insufferable man bubble up. Instead, he managed to hold it in as Roman Torchwick pulled his cigar out of his mouth and shook off some of the ashes gathering on the end. Obviously dyed orange hair covered part of the man's face, but the green eye that remained visible revealed a frightening level of intelligence. For all that Taurus thought him as lesser and pathetic in his goals, he knew that the man was no fool and wouldn't take overt rebellion well at all.

"Are you an idiot, Adam?" Roman drawled, leaning back in his chair with a nonchalant expression. The man's bowler hat slid down a bit from where it was perched on his head, creating the illusion of someone who just didn't care about the world around them.

"No," Taurus managed to ground out between his gnashing teeth.

"And yet here I am, with evidence to the contrary," Roman said as he pulled himself up from his seat and started to pace the room, somewhat hidden by the shadows. "I mean, I understand that you aren't exactly the sanest of individuals, but attacking Little Miss Monster's daughter and her friends? That's crazy, even for you."

"I will not be cowed by a traitorous cur," Taurus growled out. The Fang's movement for parahuman supremacy might have puttered out, but Taurus knew that they were just waiting for the next leader to take the reins and lead them all against the corruption and discrimination that plagued the world. So long as governments tried to put leashes on parahumans, they wouldn't be able to enact the next stage of human evolution as they were. He wasn't going to stop because a powerful parahuman decided to turn her back on her own kind. Roman's only response was to pinch his nose and sigh heavily as if he was trying to explain a simple concept to an imbecile.

"I get it – 'parahumans rule, humans drool', yadda, yadda, yadda," Roman mocked, causing Taurus' fists to clench in anger. "But we aren't worried about that here. The only thing that I care about is making money. And getting Miss Monster all angry with us because of your idiocy doesn't make money, it makes problems," Roman drawled as he took another puff of his cigar.

"As if you would understand. You're nothing more than a human," Taurus growled out, his hand inching closer to his sword. Those six words really summed up all of Taurus' problems with Roman. The man wasn't a parahuman by any stretch of the imagination, he was just a regular man who had gotten lucky. "If it wasn't for those two pets of yours you would be dead in a ditch. You may rule the Fang for now, but we will take back what's ours."

Instead of cowing under the parahuman's threats Roman simply rolled his eyes. "I know they say denial is one of the five stages of grief, but you really need to get with the times. This isn't the Fang anymore, this is my organization. If you have a problem with that you can go talk to the last person who disagreed with me," Roman's mocking smile twisted into an ugly smirk as he wrenched the metaphorical knife into Taurus' heart. "Oh wait, you can't, your little girlfriend is _dead,_ isn't she? My bad, I tend to not remember people who aren't important."

Taurus took a step forward, as his blade started to slide out from his scabbard. The sheer killing intent radiating off the man would have been enough to have given Hookwolf second thoughts about fighting, but Roman remained as unphased as ever, calmly staring down the parahuman with an amused glint in his cold green eye. Taurus was starting to wonder if he was just that crazy when he felt something press up against his throat.

The parahuman froze as the dull pressure against his esophagus forced him to rethink his actions. He still had his force field up, but it had already taken a beating, and it wouldn't be too long before he would have to go recharge it. Getting into a fight while he was vulnerable was not on his list of things to do today. He knew if worse came to worse he could take down Neo with some difficulty, but Roman was no slacker when it came to fighting either, powers or not. Engaging them in this weakened state would be beyond suicide.

"I should have known your little pet would be here," Taurus snarled as he reluctantly let go of his sword and fell back into a less aggressive stance. He didn't flinch as the space next to him shattered like glass, revealing the other main source of his ire and one of the only reasons he hadn't tried to put Roman's head on a spike before.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to insult girls who can kill you?" Roman drawled as Neo gave Taurus a rather sadistic smirk of her own. The petite woman pressed her sword parasol a little closer into Taurus's throat, just enough to activate the shield and start draining it of its power.

"What do you want Roman?" Taurus growled out. It was one thing to have to work for the man, but it was quite another to be forced to endure this level of harassment without being able to take his revenge. He would have his day, that he knew, but it didn't look like it was going to be today. The pressure against his throat lessened a bit but was still more than enough to remind him of what would happen if he defied the man again.

"What do I want?" Roman questioned, putting a hand on his chin as he seemingly considered the question being put before him. "Money, that's for sure. Power's a given. Getting rid of my rivals would be nice. I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to buckets of ice cream."

 _That_ one earned a vigorous head nod from the man's shadow, her multi-colored hair bobbing up and down as a smile spread across her face. It made her look less like a skilled murderess and more like a little girl, especially with how short she was.

"But you see, the one thing that I don't want is _getting Cadmus' attention_!" Roman hissed, and for a brief second Taurus was able to get a good look at the Roman Torchwick that was hidden beneath his cheerful act. That green eye was as cold and calculating as they came, and a level of intelligence and ruthlessness that proved why he was in command.

"Tell me, Adam, do you know why we came to Brockton Bay instead of anywhere else?" Roman asked, the pleasant mask reasserting itself as he leaned on his cane.

"No," Taurus answered honestly. He had never understood why Roman had chosen to come to this dying city instead of anywhere else. Surely there were far more profitable locations than this one.

"Well, you see Adam, one of the reasons we came to this dump is because it's a dump. It's always easier to hide crime when crime is already being committed. The police won't care if one more itty-bitty gang shows up on the street, that's business as usual," Roman said, taking a pause to puff out another cloud of noxious smoke from his cigar. "But the other reason I chose this place is that this is the home of dear old Cadmus. No major organization in their right minds would want to fight against her, and with the rest of the gangs in the city on the decline, it was practically handed to us on a silver platter. All we would have to do is to keep our heads down and she wouldn't care, too busy doing other things to worry about little old us."

Adam said nothing, staring at the man impassively as he took in his words.

"But then you had to go and ruin it, didn't you Adam?" Roman asked, a scowl flickering across his features. "You couldn't just let them take the drugs and be done with it, could you? You just _had_ to get into a fight with the Cadmus' daughter."

"They were interfering—"

The man's protests were cut short by a sharp motion of Roman's hand. "We could have gotten most of that product back once it was in the BBPD's lockup. But now because _you_ got involved they'll have the PRT swarming all over the place, which will make getting it back all that harder. An angry looked crossed Roman's face as his grip on his cane twisted, "And don't play games with me, Adam. You could care less about the drugs, and you defiantly don't care about expendable mooks so let's be honest. The only reason you wanted to fight them is because you wanted a fight, wasn't it?"

Taurus didn't bother to try and deny the accusation. It wasn't as if the man was wrong and trying to argue with him would only get him riddled full of holes. It was true that he had been somewhat desperate for a fight these past few weeks, the three heroes had been right there. How could he not resist to get into a scrape and beat those parahuman traitors into submission?

"That's what I thought. You can consider your recharging privileges revoked for now, so why don't you go do whatever it is you do when I'm not around," Roman muttered before turning his back to the man, a clear dismissal. Not only of the conversation but of the idea that he could be a threat. Taurus was almost tempted to take a step forward, but the blade on his throat made him reconsider.

Instead, he beat his pride into submission and stalked his way out of the room with as much dignity as he could muster. Roman would get his due, all he needed was to be a little more patient.

* * *

"I don't suppose we can convince these heroes to look the other way, can we?" Roman asked as he considered his options. For all that they claimed to be paragons of the law, heroes were just as easy to manipulate as anyone else. Often even easier since they could become convinced of the inherent righteousness of their actions. What a joke.

A brief head shake was all the confirmation that he needed.

"Lovely," Roman muttered. The only silver lining to this was that the PRT still thought they were dealing with a fragment of the original Fang leadership. His moles had already confirmed that they were looking at this from an ideological standpoint instead of an economic one. But it would only be a matter of time before they saw the leash tugging at Taurus' throat.

Or would they?

Neo tilted her head in a questioning way as a smile started to blossom across Roman's lips. His mind raced as he considered the idea. If they really thought this was a Fang splinter group, who was he to disappoint their preconceived notions? He could get the heat off his back and get rid of Taurus and any of his little friends who still clung to their idiotic ideals.

"I think it's time we cut our rabid dog off his leash," Roman said contemplatively, earning an amused smile from Neo as she caught on to what he was thinking. If it wasn't for the fact that she had no desire to be in charge he would have had to worry about that brain of hers that she kept hidden behind her cute little murderess act.

"I think you should pay a visit to some of our more discontent members. I would be remiss of us not to hear out their pleas," Roman said with a grin. He chuckled as Neo gave him a jaunty salute before vanishing before his very eyes. The only sign of her came from his door opening and closing as she wandered off to do her job.

Taurus had always been a mad dog, but he had been useful in keeping the others in line while he dismantled what little remained of the Fang to serve his needs. But a mad dog was one that was best kept _off_ the leash when it looked like it was going to turn on you, and now he was going to give the man exactly what he wanted. A chance to cut loose.

Taurus wanted to be a martyr, and who was he to stand in the way of a man's dream?

* * *

 **Fang:**

 **In the wake of the NEPEA-5 bill, many parahumans turned towards the newly formed Elite for protection. But as more and more parahuman restrictive laws took shape, more discontent began to grow. Under the leadership of a demagogue, the Fang formed with the intent of resisting what they view as unconstitutional laws and rights violations. But such hatred quickly consumed the group and what was a cry for equality became one for supremacy. The organization made several terror attacks against the PRT, most notably the PRT main headquarters in LA. But these attacks resulted in losing much of their non-parahuman support, and the leadership collapsed in on itself through infighting. the Fang splintered into many factions, most abandoning the political rhetoric for money-making ventures.**

 **Special Thanks to my Patrons:** Velzon, Sphinxes, Sanjay, xxpowerxx1qz, Marcel, Ask Oliver Oliversen Tegler, RavenS013, and John Ryan

 **Please consider joining my Patrons in donating to my P atreon.**


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